Tindouf Camps: French Expert Slams Polisario’s Capture of International Aid

The new report of the World Food Programme (WFP) of the UN, in its evaluation of the “strategic program for Algeria 2019/2022”, once again raises the alarm about the capture by the “polisario” of international aid intended for the populations of the camps of Tindouf, said the French expert in geopolitical strategies, Jérôme Besnard. In an article published on Omerta, a media of investigation and documentaries, the French expert notes that the “Polisario” benefits “directly” from the detour of food, funded by the European Union, which are conveniently sold to other populations in the region. This finding of the WFP “is not a surprise,” he notes, stating that in January 2015, the European Union Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) indeed pointed to a methodical detour, dating back four decades, of international aid sent to Sahrawi populations held in camps located in Algerian territory, and this from the arrival of food aid in the port of Oran, “thus reinforcing the suspicions of complicity existing within the Algerian authorities. “We will recall the European Parliament resolution of April 2015 on the instrumentalization of the humanitarian issue in the camps of Tindouf by Algeria, including the detour of aid funded by European taxpayers and the lack of census of the populations concerned, “he noted. In the same sense, the report 2021 of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, mentioning the detour of part of the aid to the Sahrawi population. Most recently, the UN Security Council Resolution 2654, adopted on October 27, calls once again for a census of the population of the Tindouf camps, he said. According to him, the situation is quite clear for international organizations, on the one hand Algeria closes its eyes on the detour of at least part of the international food aid to the populations retained by the “polisario” in the camps of Tindouf, and on the other hand, it does not proceed to the quite possible census of these populations. According to the expert, the reason is simple: the existence of the “polisario” is an essential card in the regional political game of Algeria and allows it to pursue its policy of nuisance against its Moroccan neighbor, whose historical and political legitimacy to administer its Saharan provinces is no longer to be demonstrated. He also stressed that the WFP documents irrefutably the detour of food aid intended for a population in a situation of undernutrition, especially among women and children. “The United Nations is also concerned about the lack of census of the populations concerned, which opens the door to their overestimation and consequent detour,” wrote Besnard. The UN agencies specialized in aid to refugees can not act freely in the Algerian camps of Tindouf which are managed, in defiance, again, of international law, by the militia of the “Polisario”, armed separatist group, to the point of forming an enclave of lawlessness thanks to the complicity of Algerian authorities.